H.O.P.E vs S.T.O.P & The 2nd Coming of Optimus Prime.

During the late 80’s Transformers had “The Masters” bulking up the toyline with sidekick Nebulons that changed into their heads, guns and engines. A brilliant concept that meant for the partnership of two toys one big and one small that generated extra play value.

“The Masters” had a great run and also meant for return of toys like Hot Rod and Cyclonus now paired with Targetmaster gun partners. 

A big event during the run made for the return of the main bot himself Optimus Prime with a bigger and more powerful design after his demise in both the Animated Movie and Marvel Comic canons. The true Matrix Bearer was making a comeback to the toy shelves, and it was exciting!

Powermaster Optimus Prime, a beefier toy than the original Diaclone design that had a combinable trailer, a Nebulon wingman in “Hi-Q” and more arsenal than before.

It was a must-have toy that sadly I struck out with! Despite opening up a junior Building Society account to save for one - I made about £5.84 towards the £25.99 goal which was later drawn out in the 90’s towards buying a games console. It wasn’t until 2002 I purchased online the re-release of Powermaster Prime’s Japanese counterpart “God Ginrai” (Powermaster Prime with even more extras) that made the 14-year wait worth it.

Ironically, the purchase was the same price I could have paid in 1988.

Optimus Prime’s return has meant for promotional goodness! Hasbro UK launched a fun S.O.S campaign abreast of the already existing Robot Points promotion (where ‘collect and save’ coupons could be cut out from the toy packaging). The storyline behind this campaign is explained in the scanned images. Optimus has gone AWOL and lost his memory whilst exploring (like Autobot leaders do) and it is up to two opposing factions to get to him: The Autobot stable of H.O.P.E (Help Optimus Prime Escape) consisting of Hot Rod, Chromedome and Sureshot; or S.T.O.P (Search & Terminate Optimus Prime) featuring the Decepticon Gunner/Hypnotist tag-team of Triggerhappy and Mindwipe.

 

Any of these 5 Transformers could be purchased via mail away "Mission Enrolment" form on the promotional leaflet. Whilst these toys could already be purchased in the shops, the Robot Point coupons were like a pocket money shortcut to acquiring them.

Toys aside, the crown jewel amongst this promotion is the awesome “Optimus Prime’s Back” T-shirt. Featuring the box illustration from the Powermaster Optimus Prime toy accompanied by the text “I’m Back” on the front. This front design text validates that the “Optimus Prime’s back” behind design isn’t a shirt for Prime himself, but for a child at the time!

 

 Looking at the screenshots, you can agree that It’s an awesome shirt that deserves a homebrewed homage reissue for those of us who have grown a bit since 1988.

Optimus Prime is the comeback king of the robot world, featuring in any excuse for Hasbro to release a new toy version of everyones favorite 'red and blue lorry'.  30+ years since SOS, there's been multiple Primes including a modern "Titanmasters" remake of the Powermaster toy - none of which have had a cool T-shirt costing a 10th of todays inflation backing it. Long Live Optimus!

REVIEW: Hound w/Ravage (Transformers Henkei)

Here I have on my desk a recent acquisition of Hound from the Japanese Transformers: Henkei range.

For those who don’t know, Henkei is the Japanese version of Transformers: Universe - a toy-line of old Transformer toys updated into newer (and some improved) renditions. Takara’s take with this line is a bit different from Hasbro’s approach by boasting cartoon accurate colours, chrome parts and bundling a collector card with a mini comic to boot.

The original Hound toy from 1984 was a good quality figure with detail and die-cast parts. Here, this homage of the toy has stepped up from its predecessor by having a more posable robot mode, and bigger size scale (since the original was small for its size-class).

Hound’s Jeep mode is solid and holds together well; on top of that - it’s a proper disguise! (Just ignore the Autobot insignia on the hood). Looking under the jeep itself, any possible revealing robot parts are hidden away, which isn’t a common occurrence on car based Transformers toys. Henkei Hound could near-enough pass off as a regular toy jeep to those not TF literate.

The shade of green Hound is coloured in is the same dark military tone from the G1 cartoon, whereas the US Universe version is a lighter mushy peas-like contrast. This Japanese interpretation also sports more decoration such as military stars and a golden stripe to make good effect.

Hound’s transition to robot form folds out quite nicely. The transformation follows some similar dimensions as the original 80’s toy in the front bonnet folding down (obviously!), windshield folding behind, and the back cargo area folding out into legs (complete with blocky robot feet). The robot mode itself is very posable and just looks great! Hound’s robot head, robot face and baby blue optics are all just spot on and add to expression.

The end result of this Hound remake is a well executed fusion of cartoon and Generation toy homage rolled into one. To really look at the work of this design you really have to compare this figure in person with the old toy (which I have referred to 50 times now) and stills from the series.

Of course, Hound isn’t alone in this Henkei offering, as he is also accompanied by a new version of the Decepticon spy – Ravage!

Ravage is presented not as a tape, but more or less a black slab (probably a large suitcase) that can attach to the back of Hound’s jeep mode. As a bonus, Ravage’s tape/suitcase mode can also fit inside the chest compartment of Generation 1 Soundwave in true spy minion fashion. What stops this new Ravage being defined as a tape is that there isn’t any tape markings like the Generation 1 toy, and in comparison the alt mode is a ‘black folded up thing’.

Now, Ravage’s Jaguar mode is magic! This toy resembles the dog-like black cat from his appearance in the 80’s cartoon series well. The cat mode is obviously the more important aspect and this is executed brilliantly. - A lot less 2 dimensional than the G1 original in terms of being ‘Ravage’.

Henkei Hound with the addition of Ravage is like a pseudo VS set. Both toys are either something that can be displayed opposing each another or burying the hatchet in each alt mode, with the option to attach Ravage onto Hound’s jeep mode to grab a ride. The play or display value of this package deal is certainly a winning combination and a highly recommended purchase for kids and collectors alike.